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@Yassine
- Doesn't the alternative require even more effort & struggle?
I don't see it that way. I find it liberating. You get to create your own sense of purpose in life.
- Is this due to environmental conditions or personal journey?
Not sure what this means.
- You didn't look elsewhere for faith?
There was nowhere else to look. I never bought into the objective arguments for God's existence, even when I was devoutly religious.
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I became an atheist over the past couple years.
The religion I was born into, Sikhism, demands a lot from its adherents -- never cutting your hair, wearing a turban any time you leave the house, abstaining from all the standard vices (premarital sex, masturbation, alcohol, drugs), spending inordinate amounts of time in meditation and prayer, incessantly policing your thoughts in an effort to eventually achieve an idealized state of total detachment from the material realm.
As I grew older and more independent, it all began to seem quite burdensome, and it drove me to start questioning why I even believe in any of this stuff to begin with.
I came to the realization that my faith was entirely based upon certain personal experiences that I had perceived as being divinely inspired. Once I started doubting the veracity of those experiences, it all unravelled pretty quickly.
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@thett3
Ultimately the quality of the school is dictated by the quality of the students
Yup. There's only so much the school can do when parents refuse to raise their kids properly. Doesn't matter how well-paid the teachers are, or how well-designed the curriculum is. It sucks to admit as a policy wonk, but some problems really are entirely cultural and out of the government's hands.
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@Tejretics
- The U.S. should substantially reduce restrictions on legal immigration to the United States. (Pro)
Let's do it.
- Artificial intelligence poses a higher risk of causing human extinction than climate change. (Pro)
Super interested in reading this debate if it happens.
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@Wylted
DeSantis is based, and will just take the Trump crowd from him. None of Trump's crying will get taken seriously from his supporters.
I hope you're right. It will be an interesting social experiment, seeing whether or not Trump's cult of personality can be broken.
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@Double_R
I get the idea in concept. Certainly states should have the right to govern themselves and not all states will elect to do things the same way. But when it comes to any given issue, the state you reside in doesn't matter. So states rights is something I would expect to come up in the “let’s agree to disagree” part of the exchange. But you can’t get to that part of the exchange without arguing the merits of the disagreement first, that’s where I take issue with this.
The problem is that the abortion debate always comes down to a "let's agree to disagree". It's an irresolvable clash of values -- either you care more about the potential life of the baby or you care more about the bodily autonomy of the mother, and there isn't any objective way to say which is right. For issues like that, it makes sense to localize governance as much as realistically possible.
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@airmax1227
Can you get Bluesteel and Raisor to join DART?
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@airmax1227
Can you release an official, direct statement about whether you support or condemn Lunatic's and Mikal's conduct in how they've campaigned against your opposition and behaved throughout this phase of pre-election?
Do you endorse how Lunatic and Mikal carried themselves and treated Ilikepie5 and RM during this election?
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@Vader
lolll i never got that far into naruto -- lost interest like halfway through the whole ninja world war or whatever.
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I was 15 years old, googling who would win a fight between two of my favorite anime characters, when I came across a DDO debate on the subject. Then I discovered that the site had a religious forum, which appealed to me at the time because I was obsessed with shitting on religious fundamentalists for some reason, so I created an account.
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@thett3
Not super related to your point but while I agree with you that ending the war on drugs and mass incarceration is the morally correct thing to do, don’t think that there isn’t a cost. Mass incarceration is the reason that crime rates are low. It’s a blunt force instrument and the collateral damage is too severe in my opinion to be justified but the policies advocated by AOC and Bernie absolutely would result in an increase in crime. However the effect would be more marginal that republicans would say
Well, the idea isn't to just let criminals leave prison sooner. It's also about providing them with the educational and mental health resources they need to successfully reintegrate into society. The idealist in me would like to think that's more effective than mass-incarceration, but I recognize that it probably isn't.
It looks like a couple of “flashy moves” because you aren’t paying attention to what happened to China. China’s economy was hit hard by the trade war (https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.forbes.com/v/s/www.forbes.com/sites/charleswallace1/2019/08/09/trade-war-hurting-chinas-economy/amp/%3famp_js_v=0.1&usqp=mq331AQFKAGwASA%253D#ampf=). China was only able to retaliate with tariffs on things like soybeans because that’s all they buy from us...they have no leverage. But I agree Trump didn’t fix everything. Reversing 50 years of policy in 4 years while the establishment fights you is pretty difficult. What’s more important is that he completely neutered decades of GOP orthodoxy.
I'm aware that China got fucked over by the tariffs. But how much did that really achieve for the working class? I honestly can't tell.
It feels like the GOP is eagerly getting onboard with Trump's anti-trade schtick because it makes it easy for them to claim the PARTY OF THE WORKING CLASS mantle without actually doing jack shit for the working class -- just slap on some tariffs and claim victory.
Yes, we’ve talked about this at length and i of course agree with you on all of this. Trump really screwed up BADLY by going with the GOP’s healthcare “plan” and tax cuts, no doubt about it. I would never deny that. And I can’t honestly say with certainty that outside of mass immigration which we both agree is HORRIBLE for the worker that the GOP is the better party. I suspect that it isn’t, but I’m such a cultural conservative that I just can’t vote dem. I just can’t. But I don’t blame you for feeling the way you do.
Yeah, I can sympathize with that. The Democrats really are terrible in a lot of ways. I just think Trump and the Republicans are much worse.
Hold the phone...why is de regulation a bad thing? When the interests of capital and labor are at odds we should of course side with labor, but that doesn’t mean that everything that’s good for capital is bad for labor. Deregulation is why we have cheap airfare these days. If you want to see what hyper regulation looks like take a peak at California where it’s almost impossible to run a business. The sunset clause is a great thing, regulations should constantly be re evaluated.
I didn't say all deregulation is bad! I was referring to specific things Trump has done, like repealing the individual mandate and lowering the overtime pay threshold.
I understand that you’re disillusioned with Trump but if you think someone like Hillary would’ve been better...well, you’re about to find out the hard way just how wrong that is. People like Bush, McCain, Obama, the Clintons, Biden all enriched themselves and the top 1% beyond all imagination while the hollowing out of the working class continued/accelerated.
Even if all President Hillary Clinton did was implement one or two of her major policy proposals (e.g. creating a public health insurance option, making community college tuition-free, expanding the child tax credit), that would still have made her better for the working class than Trump.
Like, I'm honestly just in complete awe of how badly Trump squandered these past 4 years.
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@thett3
The GOP is in serious need of reform because a lot of their best qualities are the things they *don't* do. Certain elements on the left all but call for the extermination of Western society and culture. They claim that America is a white supremacist country, that white men are scum, that the police need to be systemically dismantled and replaced with social workers (lol), and they try to destroy the livelihoods of any who dare disagree with them. It's the culture warring stuff that makes voting Dem a complete non starter for me even though I think their actual policies tend to be better. I have self respect and I'll never throw my lot in with people like them.
Obviously, I agree that many of the ideas circulating on the far-left are dangerous, and that the people who support them shouldn't be allowed anywhere near positions of power. However, it simply isn't true that Democrat politicians are among those people. Even Bernie and AOC don't support that shit. Look at the actual policies they advocate on criminal justice and racial inequality. None of it is insane. Most of it is good and necessary.
I don't know what foreign policy looks like in a future GOP, but if they follow Trump's footsteps they'll be heads and shoulders better than the Dem's on this issue. Recent presidents from both parties prior to Trump unleashed Hell on Earth in various portions of the globe, it's messed up that it just isn't discussed.
Trump is better on foreign policy than the establishment wing of the Democrat Party, but he's worse than the progressive wing.
He engaged in several unnecessary provocations that are inconsistent with the "America First" ethos, even if they didn't end up causing any serious conflict (i.e. the 2017 airstrike on Syria, the assassination of Soleimani, the recognition of Jerusalem as Israel's capital). He massively expanded the U.S. drone war in the Middle East, and he provided Saudi Arabia with military aid for its genocide in Yemen. He failed to significantly reduce the number of U.S. troops stationed overseas, and he failed to meaningfully improve relations with Russia, Iran, or North Korea.
I would 100% trust someone like Bernie or AOC to do much better.
Right now, the GOP is the party standing up for the working class when it comes to issues of trade and outsourcing, and facing down China. Dems have moved rapidly to the "elite" consensus that the complete economic devastation of vast swathes of the country is a fair price to pay for cheaper iPhones.
I'm gonna have to completely disagree here. Trump made a couple of flashy moves on trade, but they amounted to nothing -- outsourcing has actually gotten worse under his administration. Someone like Bernie or AOC would do a much better job of making substantive changes to U.S. trade policy.
Furthermore, trade is not the only issue that's important to the working class. What about improving the affordability of major expenses like healthcare, housing, childcare, and education? What about regulating employers to guarantee fair wages and decent work/life balance? What about regulating banks and credit card companies to prevent them from ripping off unwary consumers? What about strengthening social safety nets so that we're prepared for the economic displacement inflicted by automation? What about creating blue-collar jobs through direct federal investment in infrastructure? What about getting money out of politics? The list goes on...
The sad reality is that Trump has fucking SUCKED on most working class issues. And it's not like he was obstructed by the Republican establishment -- he didn't even try! He went right along with their agenda, and actively *hurt* the working class with some of his deregulation bullshit. Literally any Democrat, including Hillary Clinton, would have been better for the working class than Trump was.
I voted for Trump in 2016 under the presumption that he was fundamentally different from the Republican establishment, and I really regret falling for it.
Also, mass immigration is really bad and needs to be stopped
This is one of the only issues where I'll concede that Trump doesn't suck.
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Site MVP
thett3
Member of Honor
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RM
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bsh1 resignation
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Greyparrot
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@Wylted
you are absolutely correct... unfortunately, i did not get a say in which account got unbanned...
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@David
As the new moderator, can you PLEASE stop spamming our notifications with administrative updates?
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@Wylted
this is why i and every other sane person voted for you
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@thett3
why do you think you turned out to be such a bitch?
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Bsh1's IQ and integrity will be put on display here
He doesn't have much of either.
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@thett3
I know for a fact that this site gets false positives on multi accounting detection because I was falsely accused of being another user when I absolutely was not him
Same. They thought I was armoredcat simply because we both used the same type of device to access the website. Their methods are clearly unreliable.
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I vehemently reject any accusation of vote coordination. We would never in a million years ever think of doing anything like that. I'm literally not even friends with Thett3, TheHammer, or Wylted. This has all been one big fat coincidence, and there's no compelling reason to believe otherwise.
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@bsh1
I will be locking this thread for 30 minutes to allow the present controversy to die down. I do not want this thread to become toxic. It's supposed to be a celebration of talent, not a flamewar. The deadline for the nominating process will not be changed.
sniping at someone and then immediately locking the thread so they can't respond is extraordinarily faggy behavior
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@bsh1
I see. I'm "bro" in public and "faggot" in PMs. Sounds chill to me...
you can be "faggot" in public too if you want
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@bsh1
Everyone needs to chill out.
bro im literally so chill
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that was mildly amusing and made me slightly less bored, thank you
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Why are they even allowed to vote each other? That is a group of buddies who contribute next to nothing to the website. The only one of the lot worthy of being voted would be Thett3, who they aren't even voting.
Every single one of our posts is worth more than the totality of everything you've ever accomplished in your entire life.
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@bsh1
Your accounts are linked by IP, device type, and you have a known history of multi-accounting (which caused you to be temp-banned previously).
This is defamation.
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how the fuck are RM and Ramshutu leading? y'all dumb as shit.
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@thett3
Changing my vote to:
Let the record show that Bsh1 manipulated Thett3 into changing his vote by leveling the absurd and unfounded accusation that Tyrone and I are the same person. The reality is that we are brothers, and we both deserve a fair shot at getting into the Hall of Fame.
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@bsh1
These administrative notifications are literally worse than DDO spambots.
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I seem to have accidentally deleted my earlier post while trying to edit it... I'll re-create it here.
My preferred immigration policy:
- Only allow 100,000 arrivals per year. Select each arrival on the basis of English-speaking ability, capacity for gainful employment, understanding of American history & civic principles, and willingness to integrate instead of self-segregating.
- Utilize a combination of surveillance technology and physical barriers to ensure airtight border security. Immediately deport all border crossers.
- Ban the practice of applying for entry at the border. Require all applications to be filed through a U.S. embassy.
- Don't actively seek to deport illegal immigrants already residing within the country, but don't provide them any pathway to a legal status either.
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@Tejretics
Here are my most recent reads in the categories you mentioned:
- "Farewell to Reality: How Fairy Tale Physics Betrays the Search for Scientific Truth" by Jim Baggott
- "Melting Pot or Civil War?: A Son of Immigrants Makes the Case Against Open Borders" by Reihan Salam
- "Republican Like Me: How I Left the Liberal Bubble and Learned to Love the Right" by Ken Stern
- "The Once and Future Worker: A Vision for the Renewal of Work in America" by Oren Cass
- "The War on Normal People" by Andrew Yang
I highly recommend all of them.
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I think the mainstream obsession with employment is totally misguided. Jobs are merely a byproduct of business operations. There has never really been any guarantee that the economy will generate enough jobs for everyone, or that all those jobs will pay enough to sustain a decent standard of living. And that's only going to become more and more true as labor-automating technologies continue to advance. Instead of uselessly trying to manipulate businesses into creating jobs and raising wages, the government should simply offer an unconditional financial safety net to all its citizens. Those who want to work for additional income are free to do so, whereas those who don't want to work (or are unable to find work) can survive regardless. Meanwhile, businesses are left alone to do what they do best -- competing against one another to sell goods and services at the lowest possible prices.
I'm back to this position. We can't rely on employment to support the entire population. Income redistribution is the only way to ensure a decent standard of living for all Americans. We need a "Social Security for All" program.
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@Tejretics
I mean, insofar as there’s a non-zero probability that we know things and that things matter, it’s worth having this discussion.In fact, even if p = 0, since we live in societies where we assume those two things are false, we might as well have this discussion.
-___________-
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My new opinion on this is that nobody knows anything and nothing matters.
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actually nah "Freedom Dividend" is better.
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